A HOME Office rule that placed millions of European Union citizens living in Britain at risk of deportation and joblessness has been found to be unlawful by the High Court. 

Under the current EU settlement scheme, citizens of EU countries who had lived in Britain for less than five years before Brexit were only eligible to apply for pre-settled status, which they must upgrade after five years in order to obtain settled status. 

Failure to do this would result in them losing their right of residency in Britain.

But in a High Court judgement handed down today, Mr Justice Lane ruled that the Home Office has wrongly interpreted the law and that the requirement is unlawful. 

The judge ruled that the right to residency can only be lost in very specific circumstances under the EU withdrawal agreement, with failure to upgrade from pre-settled to settled status not being one of them. 

In his ruling, Mr Justice Lane said that, if the Home Office’s interpretation of the law was correct, “a very large number of people face the most serious uncertainty.”

Campaigners welcomed the decision, saying that it will protect vulnerable citizens from losing their right to work, rent, travel, access benefits and healthcare simply for not making an application some years down the line. 

The judgement follows a legal challenge by the Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA), a body set up to look after the rights of EU citizens after Brexit. 

IMA chief executive Dr Kathryn Chamberlain said: “I am pleased that the judge has recognised the significant impact this issue could have had on the lives and livelihoods of citizens with pre-settled status in the UK.”

Home Office minister Lord Murray said that the department is disappointed by the judgement and intends to appeal.